Abnormal
by Miss Nemesis
Summary: Many years after the quest against Beiloune, Epros and Linda remained together. Epros has learned to adapt to fit in with the regular humans, but it hasn't been as easy for Linda. She is still reaching towards her goal of being an idol, but it seems her singing hasn't been the only thing holding her back. Rated T for some gore.


**A/N: This was originally written some time ago, and I mean like... years. The only reason I'm really posting it now is that I wanted to write something and had no idea what to write. Sorry if there are a lot of mistakes. I'm honestly not up to rereading it past correcting the mistakes that Grammarly is showing me. Maybe I'll get to it in the future, I don't know. I don't want to promise anything right now. Either way, hope you enjoy.**

* * *

It had been many years since the quest against Beiloune. The eight friends had long since disbanded and many had lost direct contact with each other because of a few different reasons for each. Rosalynn grew to become the world's best and most powerful hero, the Great Evil King Stan being her largest enemy. Kisling became a scientist who discovered many things but in reality, it was mainly because of his brilliant assistants. (That isn't to say that the man wasn't intelligent because he certainly was, it was just that so were the people he had working under him and it is very likely that he would not have made it as far as he did, had they not of been there.) Ari and Marlene lived happily together. No one really knows what happened to Big Bull, but he was probably off training somewhere. And then there was Epros and Linda.

Being in the circus was a plus for the two. They got to do what it was they liked to do while travelling all around the new world, learning and trying out new things, and all while staying with each other. Linda's adoration for the Phantom never once faltered nor wavered and, though he would never outwardly admit it, Epros at one point began to feel a little something more for her as well.

However, being who they were had a downside.

They were immortal.

While it was something that others would literally kill for, and they were fortunate enough to both have this superhuman ability, unlike the less fortunate Stan and Ari, it was still excruciatingly painful to watch as people they knew well died and to hear things like 'The Great Hero Rosalyn killed in battle' and 'World known scientist, Professor Kisling, killed in lab explosion' and 'Simple hunter succeeds in taking down the bull monster' and even 'tragic fire burns down whole town and the surrounding forest'.

Yes, being immortal certainly was both a blessing and a curse. But they had no other choice but to live with it.

By the year 2010, Linda had decided that she no longer wanted to be in the circus and wanted to pursue her own dreams in becoming, surprise surprise, a well-known teen idol. Epros and she did continue to live together, just doing separate professions. Epros was okay with it. In fact, he thought it would be good for them, himself especially, to start spending a little less time around each other.

Throughout the years, times changed and so did the people. Now, for Epros this was fine (he was even able to change his speech pattern [much to his dismay] so normal humans wouldn't question why he was rhyming all the time), but Linda, on the other hand, was not as adaptable as he. When she was with the circus it didn't matter, however once she left, not so much. Luckily, though, the areas that they lived in were often quiet little towns with people who were nice and/ or paid next to no attention to them.

Almost two years after Linda had made her decision to become a singer she still had yet to make any progress. They traveled all around and everywhere they went turned her down, saying that her voice just wasn't good enough.

But that wasn't necessarily true. As it turned out, Linda actually had a nice voice, she just didn't know how to use it properly.

Finally they found a town that had a circus that ran all year round and had a vocal instructor living there where they had decided to settle down for a bit. They took Epros in right away, obviously. His act was unbeatable. (After all, who could beat someone in a circus act who can use telekinesis and fly?) Linda started to take singing lessons to improve her voice control.

Eventually the day came, about a year or so later, where she thought she was ready, as did her teacher. So while Epros went off to perform, Linda went into the city to enter the singing competition that was being held. Supposedly the winner would get to start their career as a singer!

As the end of the day approached, honest excitement grew in Epros. He knew as soon as he got home he would see Linda's cute (not that he would ever admit such an embarrassing thing) smiling face right before she gave him a huge hug and babbled on about how happy she was and how it was the best day in her entire life and all that. And she had come so far since before her training and now her voice was just so beautiful, she just had to win. She had to.

On his rather long walk home, Epros decided to take a slight detour to a small shop. Inside the elderly woman at the counter gave him an odd look, most likely because of how he looked in his clown-ish looking get-up, but then she smiled and greeted him once she recognized who he was.

"You're in luck!" She said, "Today everything in the store is twenty percent off."

"Oh, really?" He said, beginning to browse around the store.

"Yes, for the upcoming holiday!"

"Holiday?"

"You know. St. Valentine's Day!"

"Ah. Yes, of course. How forgetful of me." Humans and their silly special days. They didn't really have them way back when. It was easy for Epros to remember when the bigger holidays like Christmas and Halloween were, but it was the smaller holidays such as this St. Valentine's Day that were not so easy."

"All you young people always are fawning over each other and all that nonsense. You know back in my day we weren't exactly supposed to date."

Epros chuckled. 'Back in my day', she said. Little does she know that he's actually a thousand years older than she, give or take. "Oh really?" He said, mostly to humor the lady, as he looked at the store's selection of stuffed animals. (Why humans liked the things so much, he never really understood. He often found them to be rather disturbing to have a fake creature like so. He'd much prefer to have a live one. But those were also quite unpleasant.) "Seems awfully difficult. How could you go on?"

"Why, we dated in secret of course!" Of course… "Oh boy, I remember when I first met my husband. Love at first sight, it was. Well, love at first sound, really. He said my voice drew him in and, as it turns out, he likes the woman possessing the voice as well! Yes, we dated for about two or so years before we finally decided to tell our parents. His parents were more than thrilled to have 'such a precious daughter in law' as they would say. He has always been a bit of a jokester, though, and my parents weren't very appreciative of that. But they accepted that I love him and eventually we got married and now we have three children and four beautiful grandchildren."

"It sounds like you're happy together." Epros half-heartedly commented. To be honest, he was barely even listening to the lady speak. After all, she told her life's story almost every time someone came in, so he had heard it enough times to tell it back to her and probably tell it better than she would.

She continued to babble on about random things as most human elders do and Epros continued to browse around the store. However, there really wasn't much that he saw that would interest Linda any more than it would him, not much. Well, there were plenty of little things that she might like, but most of them would only annoy Epros to no end. No thank you.

However, he didn't have time to find another store, considering how late it was already, and so eventually he settled for an oversized bear. The bear's head and limbs were a pastel pink while the torso was plain white. It also had a little white heart underneath its right eye. Honestly, it looked a little odd to Epros, but maybe that's why he didn't find it as disturbing as he usually would.

As he brought the bear up to the counter, he saw the old lady's smile widen. "Is this for your girlfriend?" She asked, "The pretty one who always wears that pink dress and the apron."

"Yeah, it is for-." after Epros fully registered what she had said, a light blush appeared on his cheeks (to which he was glad that he was wearing enough makeup to hide the fact), "No, we're not-... She's not my girlfriend."

"Aw, that's cute. You're in love with her, aren't you?"

"N-no, I am not. We're just friends." He denied.

"Sure, sure, whatever you say, dearie. Do you want me to wrap this for you?"

"If you would, please."

The lady nodded and took the bear into another room. No more than two minutes later she came back out. All she had added was a large red ribbon tied into a bow around the bear's neck. She was about to attach a little plastic card to it saying 'Happy Valentine's Day' in bright purple writing, but Epros stopped her.

"Actually," He said, "do you have one that just says 'congratulations'?"

"Oh. Yeah, sure, I think I have some of those." She disappeared into the room, again, this time coming back out with a more appropriate tag. "May I ask what you're congratulating her for?"

"Today she entered a… A contest. She had been practicing for so long, even before we came here really, so I'm absolutely positive she made it. This is just a small gift compared to what she really deserves for all her hard work."

The old woman smiled, "Well, I'm sure she'll like it."

"Hopefully." He took out his wallet and handed over a load of money, "Please, keep the change. You deserve it."

"That's real sweet of you, dearie, but I wouldn't even think-." Epros was gone and out the door before she could even finish.

Epros grumbled as he walked away from the shop. Sure, the old lady was nice and all, but she sure talked more than she needed to and now Epros was even more late getting home than he originally would have been. Hopefully Linda hadn't been waiting too long.

The bear was kind of hard to carry, given its humongous size. Epros had to carry it with two arms unless he wanted to risk damaging the brand new item by carrying it by one of its limbs or the ribbon around its neck. It was one of those bears that were made to permanently maintain a sitting position and not flop around all that much. Maybe he should have gotten her a smaller one instead. Oh well, it was too late now.

The shop was actually closer to home than Epros had remembered. Which was good, because it helped make up for the extra time he had spent in that shop, chatting with the lady. So thanks to this, Epros made it home just half an hour past his original estimated time, as opposed to forty-five minutes like he had thought he would be.

As he approached his shared home, he couldn't help but feel that something was off. He couldn't determine what, though. Everything was in place in the yard, nothing looked new, and even the neighbors' yards seemed somewhat in order. How odd.

Shaking it off, for the time being, Epros continued up to the front door, which was unlocked (thankfully), thanks to Linda already being home. But something seemed out of place inside as well. All the lights were out, shoes were not put away in the closet, as they should have been, and Linda was nowhere to be seen. Where was the surprise hug attack he was expecting as soon as he opened the door, followed by a second wave of overly excited gibberish and 'I'm so happy's?

Yes, something was definitely wrong and he was afraid to find out what.

"Linda?" He called, slipping off his shoes and venturing into the kitchen. There was no reply. He set the bear down on the table. No sign of her in the living room, either. Maybe she's upstairs? "Linda, are you there?" He worriedly called a second time.

First, he went into his room and threw his jacket onto his bed, leaving him in his vertically striped red and black pants and his white undershirt. He even took the time to untie his jabot and lay that down as well. (In the past he had always worn the thing, but now it had become more of a nuisance that he only wore during an act.)

He heard a faint sound of someone crying. Was that Linda? Why was she crying?

"Don't tell me…" He muttered to himself as he headed down the hall towards the bathroom, which was where the sound was coming from. "Linda? Are you in there?" He asked softly knocking on the door. She did not reply, but the sniffling got quieter. He tried to open the door, but it was locked. "Linda, what's wrong? Why is the door locked?"

"Ju-just go away!" She shouted. Her voice cracked and she continued to sob even louder than before.

"… What happened? Didn't you make it?"

"No! … No, I didn't- I didn't _fucking_ make it, okay? Just go away and leave me alone!"

"I won't." There was something about her voice and the way that she was speaking that legitimately frightened Epros more than anything, "Now are you going to let me in or not?" When there was no reply Epros sighed, "Fine. Have it your way." He focused on the internal components of the lock, twisting and turning it all as he needed to with his telekinesis. "I'm coming in." He said turning the handle.

"D-don't come in here!" Linda slammed the door back closed before he could even get anything more than a glimpse inside. And what he did manage to see caused him to panic.

There was blood in the sink.

"Linda, let me in there right this instant." Epros said in a much more demanding voice, "Why is there blood in the sink?"

"I told you to leave me alone, so just forget about it, okay?"

"You can't tell me to just forget about it and continue on like I saw nothing."

"Epros, _please_ , I don't want you to see me like this!"

"You're bleeding! Let me in so I can help you." No response. "Linda, don't make me force you to let me in." Still nothing. He sighed, "Listen whatever it is, I don't want to leave you alone to deal with it yourself. Please, Linda, let me help you."

There was a moment of silence before she said anything. "Do you promise you won't be angry?"

Angry? Why would he be? "I promise."

A few seconds later the door creaked open, revealing a complete disaster inside. Epros's mouth hung open as he took in the current situation. The sink was covered in blood, which was also splattered all over the floor. In the middle of the room on the floor sat Linda, who had collapsed there when he came in. She was also covered in blood and holding a spot on her head, tears in her eyes and staining her cheeks. A few feet away from her lay a bloodied knife and-

Epros gasped. "L-Linda, you-."

"Please don't be angry!" She exclaimed, covering her face with her soiled hands, thus making her face even more dirty.

When she had moved her hand, Epros could see what she was covering; only confirming her actions.

Epros stepped towards her and fell to his knees. Tears were now forming in his eyes as well. "Why did you do it?" He asked his voice now quiet and shaky. She did not reply. "Linda, tell me why?" He cupped her face and pressed their foreheads together. "Why did you cut off your own horn?!"

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Linda continued to apologize. "It hurts, Epros. It hurts so much."

"All right, wait here while I-." He was about to get up and get supplies to help him but he stopped. "Is that the only thing that hurts?" She nodded. "Okay. Stay here while I go get a few things to help clean you up, okay?" She nodded, again, placing her hand back on the leftover bump.

Once Epros had stopped the bleeding he wrapped a bandage around the wounded area. On multiple occasions Linda whimpered in pain, making him feel bad, but there was nothing else he could do. He was working with bone, but still, he had to do something.

After she had calmed down enough, Epros brought her into her room and they sat down on her bed.

"Linda." He said. She refused to look at him. "Now tell me. What possessed you to do something like that?"

"I'm sorry. " She muttered, pressing her lips together.

Epros sighed, "You don't have to be. Just tell me why you did it." She opened her mouth to say something, but immediately closed it again. "Please? I'm just trying to understand why you would harm yourself like that? It may not grow back, you know."

"I know. I don't want it to." She said flatly and continued to stare down at the ground.

"What?" He asked, slightly surprised by this, "But why?"

"Because… They're not normal."

Normal? Well, of course horns aren't normal, _Linda_ isn't normal, and neither was Epros. But why was she suddenly concerned with it? And why to the point where she would _cut it off_? Just what happened at that contest?

"I'm sure people don't actually care." He tried to reassure her, "Most people probably think they're fake anyway."

Finally, she looked back up at the phantom, and he could see her eyes brimming with her tears once again. "They didn't even listen to me sing because of these ugly things, Epros! I could care less about what other people think about them, but in order to become an idol I have to! They don't just want someone who can sing well. That person also has to look the part and so they can't have some stupid girl who has horns." As she spoke she covered her face in her hands, "It would be bad for their image to have an idol that people laugh at."

So that's what happened… Now Epros could understand why it was she would go to such drastic measures. Not that he could personally relate, though. Sure, he had fun working on the circus and all, but he didn't do it because he liked to. He was just really good at it.

After a moment of silence, he asked, "Is it starting to feel any better, yet?"

"A little bit, but not much."

"Well, at least it's gone down a little… Are you hungry? Do you want me to make something?"

"I'm not really-… Yeah. Sure."

"All right. I'll bring it up to you once it's finished. Okay?"

"Okay…" As he stood up to leave, she carefully laid down on her back and stared up at the top of her pink canopy bed.

"Anything, in particular, you're hungry for?" He asked as he stood in the doorway.

"Anything is fine…"

"All right. I'll be back in a bit then."

Epros tore apart the refrigerator and every cabinet and cupboard in the kitchen searching for something quick to make, but that was still at least halfway decent in taste. This proved quite difficult, so eventually he just settled on a few cookies and some milk. Linda did prefer sweets above other foods after all. That and she didn't actually seem all that hungry in the first place.

He couldn't help but sadly glance at the bear he had purchased earlier, which was still on the table. Grudgingly he ripped the 'Congratulations' tag off of the bear, tearing it apart and tossing the pieces in the trash can. It made him think about what could have been. No, what should have been. Linda should have surpassed everyone in that competition, she should have gone on to become the biggest, most well-known teen idol there is, and that was only half of what she deserved. Who the hell do those judges think they are, telling her that she can't sing because she's different. Just thinking about the way they had treated Linda infuriated Epros to no end. In fact, they were lucky he wasn't the type of person to act violently unless absolutely necessary or he might have tried to seek revenge on them.

But it was no more than a fleeting thought. Epros closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths. His feelings were of little importance. What mattered now was making Linda feel better. The bear could wait.

"Linda? I'm coming in." He warned before slowly entering her room again. She was in the exact same position that she was in when he left her. No, in fact, she looked worse, her eyes appearing hollow and almost lifeless as tears continued to spill out from the corners. It KILLED Epros to see her this way. He sighed, put the tray down on the bedside table, and sat down next to her.

"How are you feeling?" He pointlessly asked her. He knew how she really felt, but… She did not reply. "I brought you cookies. Do you want some?" Not even a blink. "Well, I'll just leave them here for you if you decide you want to eat something." He said as he stood up to leave. He would have liked to stay with her, but he had to attend to the mess in the bathroom.

Before he left again, he turned and looked at her once more. If it wasn't for the rise and fall of her chest, the effects of her breathing, one would think that she was dead. Not just because she wasn't moving otherwise, but because she did seem the part with that look she had in her eyes. Even from the doorway Epros couldn't help but think that they looked so… dull and lifeless… It made his heart ache to see her, the girl who was always all cheerful and smiley, in such a pitiful state.

It had been a little more than two weeks since that night and Linda had yet to show any signs of recovery. Or, at least, very little. At least now she would come out of her room on occasion to do something more than using the restroom break. And even then it was only because Eprso had asked her to.

She wouldn't eat. Or, at least, she would rarely eat. Again, it was only when Epros brought food to her in her room and even then he had to practically beg her to. But still, most of the time she would only end up puking it back up later on, so there wasn't really much of a point. Maybe the only benefit was the odd occasion that she was able to keep it down, but that wasn't very often.

The townsfolk had asked Epros about her quite a few times in which he would smile and make up some excuse as to why she hadn't left the house recently. He could never actually tell any of them the truth, however. He knew Linda would not want him to, both because she wouldn't want them to know how she was with such things such as her appearance, but also because she would not want them to worry about her.

As the second week was coming to a close, Epros came home one night to find that Linda had locked herself in the bathroom again… For obvious reasons, he panicked, banging on the door and asking her what she was doing and telling her not to do something stupid. (Which was a phrase he did regret saying right after. Certainly to her it wasn't something stupid, but very important indeed, otherwise she would not have done it at all. Sure Linda was a rash and annoying girl, but she was never truly stupid.)

When he heard her crying, his tone softened immensely. "Linda, please let me in." He pleaded, "We can get through this, I promise. Just open the door."

Not long after, the door was unlocked. Much to his relief, Linda seemed at least visibly okay, aside from the tears that stained her cheeks. As he embraced her, he asked what she was doing.

"I couldn't do it." She replied.

"Do what?" He asked.

"I-... I wanted to… cut the other one off…" She said, pulling out the same utensil she had used the first time.

Hearing this, he did not have to ask what she meant exactly. He knew. But he wondered how it was that she got the knife again in the first place. He had sworn that he had locked it up, along with anything similar, that way something like this would not happen again. And it wasn't like Linda had telekinesis powers like he did. He assumed that she had broken into it or something.

The aching in his chest turned into anger as he gripped her tightly by the shoulders. "Why?" He asked, his voice hoarse and tears threatening to spill over. "Why would you feel like you have to do that? Haven't you already put yourself through enough?" She didn't reply, likely surprised by his outburst. He sighed, taking a deep breath to calm himself down so he could talk to her more calmly. "I'm not angry with you." He said softly, "I just want to understand why…"

Her lip quivered as she started to speak, "I-I-..." She crumpled to the floor and covered her face. "I-I'm s-... sorry…"

Epros sighed, collecting himself. "It's okay." He said in a much more calm tone, "I think I have an idea on how we can solve this."

"An... Idea?" She gave him a curious look through her tears.

"Yes. Hold on, wait here for a minute." He released his grip on her shoulders and turned to go get the item in mind from his room. Luckily this was an item he used on occasion, so it wasn't hard to find at all. He hid it behind his back and went back into the bathroom where Linda was waiting.

"Are you ready?" Epros asked with a slight smile.

"Ready for what?" Linda replied. Epros simply responded to that by pulling the item out from behind him and placing it on top of her head. "What's this?"

"It's my top hat. If you wear it, no one will be able to see your horns ."

"No one… will be able to see…" She repeated and stepped in front of the mirror to get a look for herself.

"You see?" Epros said, stepping up behind her, "You can't even tell that you're not human."

Linda continued to frown. "No… They will still know…"

Now it was Epros's turn to frown. "Why do you say that?"

"Because I'm still me. Even if they can't see my horns, they'll know that I'm not normal."

Epros thought for a moment. "Let's go somewhere." He said, seemingly out of nowhere.

"Why?"

"It doesn't matter. Just come on, get yourself cleaned up." He said, urging her closer to the sink. "And while you do that, I will take care of this." He held up the knife. "Okay?" Linda bit down on her lip and looked away from him. It was clear that she was contemplating saying no, but instead, she did agree. "Good." Epros smiled again. He took the knife with him as he left the room, leaving Linda to do her part.

"Are you sure about this?" Linda asked Epros as she sat fidgeting next to him.

"It'll be fine, trust me." Epros replied, "Besides it's a little too late now. The train is almost there."

"Where's there?"

"You'll see."

"I don't like surprises." She sighed and puffed her lip out in a pout.

"That's a lie and you know it." Epros stated, chuckling a little. "So…" He paused, "Do you like it?"

"Like what?"

"The hat." Epros pointed at the top hat on her head.

She looked down. "Yeah, I guess." So she was lying then. "But I don't think it'll help much." And that was why.

A few moments later, the bus pulled to a stop. "This is us." Epros said, standing up and grabbing the rather large bad he had brought as well.

"Here?" Linda turned and looked out the window behind her and froze at the sight of one of the largest city's station. "Wh-why are we here?"

"You'll see." Was all Epros said as he took her hand with his free one (the other one taken by a bag he had brought) and pulled her along.

For a while they just walked around, Epros mainly leading Linda by the hand as they passed many stores. Honestly, he wasn't exactly sure where they were headed, but he had an idea as to where he wanted to stop. He was surprised that Linda did not protest at all beyond when they were on the subway, but he could tell that she was still nervous, because her hand was as cold as ice.

Finally, they came to a corner where two slightly busy streets crossed. Epros dropped her hand and set down the bag he was carrying. Linda shifted her weight onto one foot awkwardly under the stares the people waiting to cross were giving them.

"Can't we just go home?" Linda whined, "Why do we have to do this?"

"Because," Epros replied, squatting down to take out the items he had brought, "I think doing this will be beneficial to the both of us."

She took a step closer to see what he was getting, then gasped. "Epros no. I can't do this."

"Come on, it won't be that bad." He said in a comforting tone, "You used to love doing this, remember? I bet once you see what I'm getting at you'll have lots of fun." He moved towards her, trying to hand the item over to her.

It was her old microphone. Despite its incredible age, the thing still worked decently enough. That and it would have to do, as it was the only microphone they had that didn't need to be plugged into something.

Linda shook her head furiously. "No way, this is too much! I can't!"

"Will you at least give it a try? For me? You can just pretend like they're not there or that we're still back in time, in Madril with Ari and Stan and everyone else." She furiously chewed on her lip, glancing out of the corner of her eye at the groups of people who were now crossing the streets.

"Please?" Epros pleaded one last time, "If this doesn't work, I'll drop it. I won't bug you about this sort of thing ever again."

Finally, Linda looked at him again and stopped fidgeting. "O-okay." She said with a slight nod and shakily took the microphone from his hands.

Now there was a new group of people coming their way. Linda nervously looked back at Epros and asked, "What do I sing?!"

"Sing whatever you want to." He simply replied, "whatever comes to mind, sing it." She shifted around some more, changing her position and moving her mic from one hand to the other. Epros wondered if she was thinking about what to sing or just stalling for time. Either was fine with him, just as long as she did eventually sing.

With a sig, she closed her eyes and tried to stand still and take a few deep breaths to prepare herself. She held the mic away to clear her throat and stretched out her back, then took some more deep breaths. Then she brought the mic back close to her chest.

With that much of a build up, Epros had half expected her to start off proudly like she usually would. However, instead she started quiet and slow, barely even audible. Epros refrained from saying anything, knowing that she would get louder once she was more comfortable.

The song was familiar, but unfortunately Epros did not listen to the radio enough to identify what it was. Due to her low tone, not many people heard her, but those who were able to reacted exactly how Epros had hoped they would. They slowed to a stop, their full attention now directed towards Linda, who was oblivious to the fact that they were even there, due to having her eyes closed.

It was clear that she was uncomfortable, and even the audience could see this, but she continued to sing anyways. A clear sign that no matter what she thought, Linda truly did just love to sing. The song came to an end and Linda lowered the mic. The crowd who had stopped to listen was silent and for a moment Epros got a bad feeling. She had done well, so why weren't they telling her so? Was it just him that thought she did a wonderful job? However, the feeling dissipated when one person began to clap, the rest of them soon joining in.

Linda's eyes shot open and she stared at the crowd of people standing before her, confused as to why they were there. People from across the street looked at them with curiosity as the clapping got louder.

Epros came up next to her and explained, "They're clapping because of you."

"M-me?!" Linda exclaimed.

"Yes, you. You sang wonderfully."

"No way. You're just saying that."

"Are you calling these random strangers liars as well?" He motioned towards said people, most of them smiling enthusiastically and some still clapping. Linda looked at them, taking in the sincerity on their faces. "You see? They think you did great as well."

"I-I..." Linda was at a loss for words.

A small human child, a little boy, pushed his way through the crowd to stand before Linda. "Will you sing more?" he asked timidly, lightly tugging on her skirt.

She looked down at the little boy, then back to Epros, her eyes asking for guidance. He just smiled in response. He wasn't going to make her do it if she didn't want to, but after what had just happened, he knew that she would. She just had to decide that for herself.

Linda looked back at the boy and have him a smile. It was weary, but a smile nonetheless.

"Okay. " she said with a nod and the boy was beaming she took a big breath and lifted her mic once more.

"You were right, Linda, you're not normal. neither am I. And I'm not saying that just because neither of us are human. we're abnormal in looks and personality as well. We are both weird when it comes to how we speak and act on top of your striped horns and my purple eyes. However, we are still fortunate enough to still be here, unlike some of our other friends, both normal and queer. I believe that we should live happy and free. If not for us, then for them. Don't you agree?"

Linda couldn't help but smile at that glimpse of his old rhyming self, something the both of them had missed.

* * *

 **A/N: Please feel free to tell me what you like and don't like! Thank you for reading. I really appreciate even just that. :)**


End file.
